Category Archives: Trading Card Games

To the casual observer, trading cards died as soon as Al Gore “invented” the internet. Gamers know it’s been quite the opposite; cards went digital and business is booming. Spells of Genesis, on of the latest trading card games to hit the market, thinks it has a unique advantage over other games.

This article was provided by the Vanbex Group.

It’s not just trading card games (or TCGs) like Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft either. Sports games like Madden NFL 16 lets you buy, earn and play your cards at will. Problem is as soon as a new Hearthstone or Madden comes out your hard-earned card becomes obsolete.

TCG gaming studio EvedreamSoft believes there’s a better way. A path that allows the studio and community to co-own and co-build its assets: Spells of Genesis (for iOS and Android devices).

SoG was created with all the spells and whistles you love and expect from the genre (for a preview of the gameplay and controls, click here), but uses the growing Bitcoin digital currency to ensure cards can safely be traded, sold and tracked however you see fit.

So how do you go from card player to card owner in Spells of Genesis (SoG)?

Buying-in to Bitcoin With Spells of Genesis

Buying Bitcoin is like setting up a PayPal account. Once you’re registered, you can transfer funds to Bitcoin which then lets you buy BitCrystals (BCY), SoG’s in-game currency. The BCY allows you to buy and sell SoG’s digital cards like their cardboard competition.

All transactions are tracked using the blockchain – think of it like a public bank statement that never disappears – and any completed transaction is tracked. There are no takebacksies in Spells of Genesis!

If you sell some cards and have a ton of BCY, convert those ‘crystals back to Bitcoin and send it back to your account. Making real coin in SoG is that easy. No black market trading or dealing with shady merchants.

Card Shopping at the Merchant Market

While non-blockchain (off-chain) cards can be earned randomly by summoning gold in game, blockchain cards are offered for purchase through Merchants – the 7-Eleven of SoG.

However, in this world not all 7-Elevens are created equal. There are three types of Merchants: Partner, Premium and Public. The better your SoG partnership, the better your Merchant, the better your Merchant, the better access to rare cards before everyone else:

Partner Merchant: If you have the coveted Partner Rank (currently available only to partners who helped originally crowdfund SoG) all the rare Public and Premium cards are available at this store before being offered by Premium and Public Merchants a month later. Think of it like being a Tesla investor that gets first dibs at that cool Model 3.

Premium Merchant: A month later the Premium Merchant offers 40% of the remaining supply of Premium cards, the rest stay with the Partner Merchant. Each Premium Card will be on sale for a week then gets replaced by another. You can also get your hands on certain Premium Cards without spending BCY using the “Free Assets” system (more on that down below).

Public Merchant: Public cards are also available a month after release on the Partner Merchant, but the exact date of availability isn’t guaranteed – like a Steam flash sale. The number of cards available for sale is also limited, so be on your toes if you’re looking for rare cards at the Public level.

However, like the Premium Merchant, some Public cards can be had using Free Assets and not BCY, which brings us to…

Free Assets

SoG didn’t just want those with the deepest pockets earning all the blockchain cards, so they’ve offered free blockchain cards that can be purchased with “Free Assets.”

Free Assets are represented by different minerals such as coal, tin, copper or iron and each asset will have three stages (e.g. iron1, iron2, iron3). The different minerals can be acquired as rewards while playing SoG for a specific achievement, moving up the leaderboard, or exchanging your own blockchain card (e.g. you could get one copper1 for a SARUTOBICARD).

Once you have enough minerals to meet the asking price, the Free Asset card is yours to wield!

SoG, Pioneering Gaming Economy

Obviously, successful gameplay in Spells of Genesis comes down to combining the right cards and using the right strategy. But the added addiction will be in collecting, owning and selling your rare deck.

Nearly 9,000 cards have already been solid for a total of over 3,600,000 BCY. While huge franchises like Madden and Hearthstone still have digital cards in the Stone Age, SoG is bringing its deck to the future: Its players’ hands.

Once relegated to the back of comic book shops around the world, trading card games made a leap forward in 2002 when Magic: The Gathering went online.Unfortunately, at its core TCGs haven’t changed their makeup since: Controls are turn based, games are played in real-time, and though Magic Online lets you trade your cards you don’t physically possess them.When Spells of Genesis (SoG) drops on Android and iOS devices (currently in its BETA stages), expect an evolution that brings new gamers on the go while exciting vets who yearn for when they truly owned their deck.

This Article was provided by The Vanbex Group

Attack, Defend, Progress Whenever You Want in Spells of Genesis

Real-time multiplayer is the foundation of TCGs, but it’s a tough sell when you’re a gamer on the go.

How do you commit to a full match on the way to work or school? SoG solves that by using asymmetrical multiplayer, a style of PvP gaming popularized in games like Clash of Clans and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mobile Strike.

Choose your cards, pair up with your offline opponent’s defense and go on the attack. You’ll face their cards in the form of orbs – the bigger the orb the larger its hit points – and if you don’t choose a capable combination of cards or elements, they’ll be leveling up instead. Conversely, you can build your own defense for opponents to attack while you’re offline.

Pause the game if you hit your stop on the subway. Fire off spells at your opponent while in a traffic jam. Use your best defensive spells to give your profile strong protection while offline. How and when you choose to attack or defend is completely up to you.

Fuse Your Magic. Build Your Deck. Make Some Coin

The standard in online TCGs like Magic Online and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is buying packs to empower your overall deck. Even if you find something rare in a pile of doubles and low-level cards, the card itself will never change or evolve.

To ensure improving your deck isn’t just the luck of the draw, SoG is letting you upgrade and max out your cards like you’re playing Final Fantasy.

Either after beating the CPU or an online opponent, victories earn you Elemental Crystals to upgrade your cards. Max out the “Minotaur” card; fuse it with another upgraded copy to evolve it to “Minotaur Shield Holder.” Then upgrade and fuse two Minotaur Shield Holders again to help it reach its final form, “Devastating Minotaur” (yes, it’s powerful and … devastating).

Keep the final form in your collection forever if you want, or sell it for real money. And don’t believe the hype that digital trading in gaming is destined for unregulated disaster. EverdreamSoft has a simple and monitored solution to owning and selling your digital purchase: the Bitcoin blockchain.

Using the Bitcoin Blockchain to Own Your Deck

Unless you’re still playing live, no TCG player legally owns their hard-earned digital cards. Think of it like the iTunes Store, you may have paid $10.99 for that Jonas Brothers album, but when you die it (thankfully) dies with you. SoG is changing all that by using the booming digital, cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin allows you to buy the game’s BitCrystals (SoG’s in-game currency), then own cards like digital property. You buy your card, and it exists like your favorite chaos spell in cyberspace. Cards are yours forever and Bitcoin keeps track of any trade you make. No dishonest deals, no hoping for fair delivery.

EverdreamSoft is already selling rare cards created with partners and sponsors on the blockchain. Some of those cards are already in short supply; expect them to skyrocket in value once they’re sold out.

Unfortunately, understanding everything about Bitcoin is like understanding the housing crisis. But the gist is it’s a currency you can exchange for any other. When you’re ready turn your Bitcoin into cash you can withdraw it to your bank account or go shopping at any of the (thousands) online stores that accept the currency.

The lure of the original Magic: The Gathering is more than nostalgia. It’s the ability to physically own or physically sell unique cards for a huge market price. SoG is finally bringing it online.

‘Magic’ Your Way

Nobody is disputing current online TCGs are a huge commercial success. Twitch.tv and eSports definitely brought them to the forefront. But there’s room to expand the mobile audience while bringing back perks that made the genre so popular in the first place.

Use the game as filler during your morning latte, or join the numerous tournaments and rare card sales EverdreamSoft plans on dropping throughout its lifespan. With SoG, the time, investment and spells are yours to control.